Ruby Dee

For more than 70 years, Ruby Dee has built her reputation as a skilled actress, writer, poet and dedicated activist. Dee holds numerous awards, medals and accolades for her contributions to the film industry, which includes roles in film, television and Broadway, most notably A Raisin in the Sun and American Gangster (for which she earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress).  The Emmy-winning performer was also a known civil rights activist who, alongside her late husband, Ossie Davis, was the recipient of 2005's Lifetime Achievement Freedom Award presented by the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis.